The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday carried out raids against the Secretary
of the Mining and Industry department, Pooja Singhal in a decade-old case of scam
in the MNREGA scheme in Khunti district, where she was the DC during the said
period. The ED seized Rs 19.31 Crore cash from the residence of chartered
accountant Suman Sharma in Ranchi.
Pooja Singhal is a 2000 batch IAS officer of the Jharkhand cadre. The ED sources
said that the raids were carried out over 20 places in five states namely Ranchi
(Jharkhand), Kolkata (Bengal), Jaipur (Rajasthan), Muzaffarpur (Bihar), and Delhi.
ED sources said that raids were carried out against her as well as her husband
Abhishek Jha, who is the managing director of Pulse Super specialty hospital in
Ranchi. Raids were also carried out against her brother Sidharth Singhal, who was
among the directors of Pulse Super specialty hospital. In addition to them, ED
officials raided the premises of her in-laws, parents and entry operators in Kolkata.
Muzaffarpur’s residence of Abhishek Jha was raided. In Ranchi, her house was
searched besides the hospital and the residence of her brother at Lalpur. In Delhi
also the premise of her brother was raided.
In Rajasthan the ED raised the house of the retired engineer of Khunti district RK
Jain who is among the accused of the MGNREGA scam. As per the information
the ED has got some documents that suggest suspected money laundering by the
IAS. The ED is deeply investigating the financial transactions of the Pulse hospital
which is a unit of the Pulse Sanjeevani Healthcare Private Limited. Abhishek Jha is
the managing director here. The company was established in November 2011.
Siddharth Singhal, brother of Pooja Singhal is listed among the directors along
with Amita Jha and Dipti Banerjee. The company is situated on the 1 st Floor,
Orchid Complex at Bariatu in Ranchi.
ED sources said that in 2016 a company was formed named as Medansh Hospital
Private Limited. Abhishek and Dipti were the directors here. The company was
amalgamated into Pulse Sanjeevani Healthcare in 2020. Sources said that the
agency credibly doubts that Medansh Hospital Private Limited was formed with an
objective to accommodate slush funds and the same was done through
amalgamation in Pulse Sanjeevani Healthcare. The ED is examining documents
whether or not the capital money of the amalgamated company was part of the
money laundering.